Meanwhile, the Falcons continue to prove that smart scouting, smart coaching hires, and smart executives intently focused on winning can turn a team around in six months, not six years. There's a reason why we, not they, overpaid DeAngelo Hall.

What we saw yesterday were chickens coming home to roost on the scarecrow of wayward priorities.

I am sorta numb to it all. I have never wanted to be a reactive fan of the raiders meaning only root for them when they are winning, I always wanted to be a proactive Raiderfan, always supporting the Raiders. Winning each week wasn't even the final barometer. Lane Kiffin wasn't winning(yet) but I could see the progress, and knew that the right steps were being taken to become winners again. When Lane Kiffin was fired, I became numb to the Raiders. The passion has been extinguished. And Like your previous take correctly pointed out when a "real" autumn wind blows in and cleans house, then the passion will reignite in me. The GM must be held fully accountable for this fiasco. Either A, the GM mistakenly hired a head coach who deliberately set out to sabotoge the team(not likely), or B The GM fired the head coach for selfish petty reasons that had nothing to do with his performance as the head coach. The biggest losers are not The team, its not Al Davis, its us fans.

Not for nuthin but sooner or later, 60 mil or no 60 mil, Russell has gotta be benched. The kid just doesn't see the field like he should and his decision making is awful. He needs to sit and watch and re-tool before is confidence is irrevesibly damaged. He should have been pulled after the 1st half yesterday. As a matter of fact the only reason I put the game back on at the beginning of the 3rd qtr was to see if the sensible thing was done and AW was in there. Silly me, expecting this team to do the sensible thing.

Five, ten or fifteen years from now, we're going to look back and recognize this era for what it is: the sad decline of Al Davis. The necrosis of a once great football mastermind who is no longer able to make sound football decisions and...perhaps even worse...is unable to understand that, despite his undying devotion to the success of the team, he is the cause of the problems.

We can sit back and maintain a sense of blind optimism for every move done in the Raider organization, but the truth is that this team will not improve until Al Davis is no longer part of the decision-making process.

Barring hoping for the quick demise of Al in order to improve the team (an end that doesn't justify the means, and is something no sane person would wish for), the best hope at this point is that Al sells the team outright or has a complete revelation that he is the one at fault, hires a respectable GM and retires to Tahiti.

I really would love to see him hire a GM or transfer ownership to a family member and remove himself completely from the process (ala George Steinbrenner when he gave the reins to his sons) but I don't see this ever happening with Al. Unlike Steinbrenner who bought the Yankees as a business venture, Al's more vested in this team, having been with the Raiders since almost ground zero and working his way up through the ranks. Even if he said he was letting someone else run the team, I don't think anyone would believe him.

Either way, until Al's out of the equation, it's going to be more of the same...

Despite what some have said, my previous take about priorities wasn't some sort of rash tantrum.

It was born of calm observation and evaluation, from which I could only draw one rational conclusion.

It was clear to me after the Ravens game that the Raiders had gone off the rails again.

With the excuses and explanations for this predicament having finally overstepped the far outer boundaries of rational thinking, I could only conclude that, in Alameda, maintaining the culture responsible for losing had somehow become a larger priority than winning.

I didn't expect the Raiders to sink as low as they did against the Falcons (because such a "performance" was utterly inconceivable until it happened), but I'm not surprised, either.

I too left at half time. Well, i didn't really "leave", I just turned it off. For the first time since I started shelling out the cash to DirecTV I decided the best way to get my money's worth was to watch ANYONE else play football.

The Cheifs and Broncos both dumped games while the Chargers rest up...as if it matters.

Yeah, sorry man, I kind of fell off the Raider Take radar there for a while. I was busy with other projects and was even co-hosting a tech podcast for the Wall Street Journal for a while (the E-Report, if anyone ever heard it). That and when I *did* have the time to visit here, I had to sort through 150+ comments for each post. Such is the price of popularity...:)

I would have left (the bar) at halftime, but I was waiting for food. Fortunately, there were other NFL games on.

Due to travel, I'll miss the game this week for the first time since the advent of satellite dishes. Deep down, I'm actually relieved to get a break... because at this juncture I'm worried it’s some twisted morbid curiosity that keeps bringing to watch the games. Why else would I torture myself?

not to bring up politics here, but, during watergate, i believe barry goldwater and a few other brave men, went to the white house and told nixon it was time to go.

it was not an easy thing to do, but it had to be done for the good of the nation.

the raiders, i believe, face a similar situation with al davis.someone,(john madden??,) has to have the guts to go visit al and tell him it's all over.he must step aside for the good of the raider nation.

in the words of bob dylan, "don't stand in the doorway,don't block up the hall.for he that gets hurt,will be he who has stalled...the times they are a changin".

sorry al, but the truth is out there on the field for everyone to see.it's been a great ride. your name is firmly entrenched in Nfl history.no one is ever going to forget this. especially raider fans. but it's time to hand the keys over to someone else.because you're behind the wheel of the raider car, goin' about 100 mph, and you're heading for a cliff.if you won't hit the breaks, then someone has to do it for you, before it's too late.

As you all know I have been a "Die-Hard" supporter of the franchise who refused to submit the the "MrD" Bashing that has gone on in the "Nation"-n-"Mediot"s....But enough is enough....

Sorry Al....But you gotta go...Their comes a time in every mans life that he needs to reconise it's time to sit on the side-lines and let some "FreshBlood" take over the resposibilities of his business...No-One enjoys being "Put-Out-to-Pasture" but it's a nessasary step in the progress of any enterprise when the top managment has gone beyond their years...

I know how it feels....After a sevear spinal injury 7-30-01 and my last gasp attemps to stay on the job until 10-10-01 it became nessasary for Bechtal to send me home and cut me out of the $32.50/hr I was still trying to earn....After I returned 3 times to the job site to vissit with all my co-workers I was escorted to the gate and told I would NOT be allowed to return again....

I Cried....But NOT publicly...

Sense than I have found a whole new life and a great deal of pleasure in retirement and I'm sure you will also...

You will always be remembered for the "Greatness-of-the-Raiders" and your many accomplishments durring the past 46 years but please...Make one more "Great" decission and hire a good FootBall Mind to take over the franchise...In the end we will all love you for it....

Yes, like I said, there's a reason why we, not the Falcons, overpaid for DeAngelo Hall. There's a reason why the Falcons turned it around in six months, while we're reaching new lows after six years. Sad but true.

I appreciate the opportunity you have given some of us here. To have a place like RT, to voice some of our opinions and share our knowledge with each other. And I humbly say thank you; much Raider love down to the Silver and Black bones.

Have you noticed lately RaiderNation and the island republic of Cuba have many similarities? Both are living in the past, stuck in the memory of a once glorious existance, while the opressed faithful sit and wait for the old man running the show to drop dead or leave. The boss too stuborn and narcisistic to realize his shortcommings now and the pain he is inflicting on his faithful citizens. Atleast Fidel can offer us cigars.

HALL THE FIRST STEP OF A SILVER AND BLACK PURGE?Posted by Mike Florio on November 4, 2008, 8:46 p.m. EST In the wake of the news that the Raiders soon will release cornerback DeAngelo Hall, a league source tells us that as many as 15 other current members of the team could be gone before next year.

The source believes that the purge will include receiver Javon Walker and defensive tackle Tommy Kelly.

As to Hall, we’re told that the reasons given for the move include a desire to devote the money that Hall would receive over the next year ($16.5 million) to inking cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha to a long-term deal, and to sign other players.

Also, don’t be shocked if someone makes a waivers claim on Hall. We’re told that interested teams include the Patriots, Texans, Giants, Redskins, Rams, and Saints. Several teams have the money to pay Hall — and getting him for $16 million in guaranteed money could be regarded as a bargain.